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Belgium: Thousands try to storm UN to protest migration pact

Mon, 2018-12-17 21:39 — admin

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel's stubborn endorsement of the UN Global Migration Pact has brought his government to its knees and caused massive demonstrations against the Pact in Belgium. Charles Michel now governs with a minority, because the center-right Flemish N-VA has walked out over the PM's move to have Belgium support a UN migration pact. The Prime Minister is now trying to govern with assorted and reshuffled Liberals and Christian Democrats. The upcoming Migration Pact has divided international alliances: Austria, Hungary, the US, Israel, Australia and several other states rejecting the accord. [1]Belgium's migration minister, Theo Francken, commented on Thursday, "It's way too pro-migration. It doesn't have the nuance that it needs to have to also comfort European citizens." He said that, although it was not legally binding, it was also not without legal risks. He said that wide interpretation of human rights laws in EU courts were "tying the hands of migration policy-makers." [2]

The Belgian government has split apart after Prime Minister Charles Michel ignored the objections of his ruling coalition’s biggest party and insisted he would sign the UN migration pact.

The Flemish nationalist New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) party quit the government following crisis talks over the weekend, prompting Michel to announce he would travel to Marrakesh to sign the controversial compact representing a minority government.

Stepping down as interior minister on Sunday, the N-VA’s Jan Jambon told local media “I think that, formally speaking, we are stepping down. We said that if the coalition goes to Marrakesh, it will be without us.”

The patriotic party had previously produced a list of 30 objections to signing the so-called Global Compact on Safe and Orderly Migration including a lack of differentiation between illegal and legal flows, and questions over whether the agreement, which declares mass immigration to be “inevitable, desirable and necessary”, could have a chilling effect on objective journalism.

Vice Prime Minister Alexander De Croo rebuffed the N-VA for branding the parties set to sign Belgium up to the UN document as a ‘Marrakesh coalition’, asserting that ministers will continue to have “firm but humane” migration policies because “no one in this government wants to pursue open [borders]”. [3]

Le Pen, Bannon speak against UN Global Compact in Brussels

On 8 December Marine Le Pen (National Rally Party) and former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon participated in a meeting against the UN Global Compact for Migration in Brussels on Saturday. "There is no leader of any political movement in Europe, the United States or Latin America that doesn't agree. We are talking about a great human tragedy in Sub-Saharan Africa, in Central America," Bannon stated. Le Pen urged French President Emmanuel Macron not to sign the compact, saying "the French president's immigrationism is so irrepressible that he forgets his constitutional duties." The non-legally binding Global Compact for Migration which covers international migration in all aspects was concluded in July and is expected to be adopted by UN member states in December. [4]